Finding My Scene With ‘Find Your Seen’ (AKA My Mission Statement)

Couple of years back I’m in Culver City (home of the sublime Tito’s Tacos) with a good friend and former co-worker. We’re scarfing down pizzas at LaRocco’s, a wonderful hole in the wall spot on Main Street, and discussing if we should resume a radio program we started eons ago. That idea materialized into nothing, but then, as the cliched phrase goes, “we got to talkin’” and the seeds of Find Your Seen were planted.

Zuma Beach, CA. – Photo taken by JH

Find Your Seen, if one knows who to spell or understands the meaning of things, is grammatically incorrect. But that’s the point – we wanted people to try and figure out what the heck the site, as well as the moniker, was all about. The far reaching goal of the website was to cover stories about people who are passionate about their respective careers, dreams, and neighborhoods. The driving question, for us, is where do people want to be “seen” in the world – or rather, what place offers them the most comfort and solace? By sharing these stories the goal was to create a positive site where readers can go and share their own insights on life or anything (and everything) under the sun.

That was slightly over two years ago, and my friend has since moved to the East Coast (I’m hoping he rejoins the site down the road!!). The past ten months of my life has been focused on being a manny to my niece, serving as co-editor of Hollywood Outbreak, and trying to get theCinemAddicts podcast off the ground. This has left my writings on Find Your Seen relatively non-existent. Along with another site (Deepest Dream) I started up in 2013 and the occasional movie reviews I do for the Cinemaddicts website.

One of my fondest memories of my dad is a particular drive home from his dialysis. While waiting for my dad’s session to end, I went to Angelo, a barber I used to frequent, and had my usual buzz cut. Angelo, like my dad, is a total mensch, and that 12-15 minutes of barbering usually left me with some memorable tales about his family or a few anecdotes about his past. “What stories did you learn from Angelo today,” asked my dad.

Though I forgot my response, I just remembered how much my dad loved storytelling and, more importantly, learning about the lives of different people in the process. Since I’ve spent all of my career interviewing career (most of it was an employee of Westwood One), I know a thing or two about asking the right questions. But I still have a million things to learn, but I know my dad is always with me, encouraging me to learn more about this world we live in.

My Working Life in a nutshell.

The ultimate dream is to grow this community on a worldwide basis, and though right now I’m an army of one, I’m crossing my fingers that a few more people will join me on this road. Part of this challenging and enriching journey will be to focus most of my energies on the website and bring insightful or at least informative coverage on this website.

A huge portion of my heart and soul is devoted to cinema, so much of this Dream Factory column will be dedicated to that. I’ll also be permanently housing Allyson Gronowitz’s “Flipping The Script” column onto this site (I’ve been shuttling her work back and forth from FYS to Deepest Dream), as I want Columns to be an integral aspect of Find Your Seen.

As of now, I’m the main writer of FYS, so much of the event and news coverage will be Los Angeles based. The eventual goal is to grow that reach to all parts of the world. How I’m going to make that happen is still a freaking mystery, but I’m focused on carving out that path once again.

This was my “shopkeeping” column article for Dream Factory.. Please email me at findyourseen@gmail.com if you have questions on the site or simply feedback, I’d love to hear from you!!

My next Dream Factory installment will center on my lifelong love for the underrated Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks flick Joe Vs. The Volcano. I’ll be rewatching it tonight and pumping out another column this week! Speaking of cinema, my coverage of War of the Planet of the Apes, Person to Person, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is featured on the latest episode of CinemAddicts. Take a listen and feel free to comment below!!

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Greg Srisavasdi

Editor/Owner of Find Your Seen and Deepest Dream, I'm also a BFCA member and editor of Hollywood Outbreak. I also do a weekly movie review podcast called CinemAddicts. BFCA member, Clippers and UCLA Bruins lifer!!